Plan Your Trip Times Picks

The Train Or The Plane?

Published: May 6, 2007

To the Editor: It's a pity that ''Budget Airlines: Adventures in Low-Cost Travel (Affordable Europe, April 22) by Matt Gross didn't point out that the train can often be a cheaper and much more pleasant alternative to low-cost flights in Europe.

I will be traveling from Brussels to Nice via TGV (train ?rande vitesse, or very fast train). The trip, booked in advance, cost less than a no-frills airline ticket after taxes and surcharges. It will take a little longer, but not too much when you consider the time spent traveling to and from the regional airports that low-cost airlines usually use.

In addition, I can take as much luggage as I wish, I will have adequate legroom, can watch the countryside go by, and can rest assured that not only is the train much more environmentally friendly than the plane, but it is also safe, and the staff (French civil servants) are well paid and treated fairly, which is often not the case on Europe's low-cost airlines. All in all a much more agreeable journey. Happy travels.

Darian Meacham
Brussels

To the Editor: I enjoyed Matt Gross's latest article immensely. But I wonder: Was flying really cheaper? Frugal travelers considering their own seven-nights-seven-cities European tour (sorry, Fez) might try a one-week train pass, as I just did.

Mr. Gross described all the week's jet-lagged pleasures, but listed only his airfare costs. How expensive was getting to those outlying airports favored by discount carriers? How much were the hotels, excess baggage fines, etc.?

From Copenhagen to Berlin to Paris to Barcelona, overnight trains reduced my hotel costs to zero and delivered me directly to the heart of my destination each morning. As for planes being faster, all the hours Mr. Gross spent flying, I spent exploring. With trains, jet lag and luggage limits are nonexistent, and there are fewer greenhouse emissions.

Daniel Meyerowitz
Copenhagen

Photo (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

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